*tap* *tap* *tap*
The maids in front of the Heavenly League meeting hall turned their heads towards the footsteps.
Seeing the person, they immediately bowed and made way for him.
"Is Yuan Shuchun here?" He asked.
One of the maids came forward and said, "Yes, Elder. She's inside."
He nodded and moved towards the gate.
Pushing it open, he entered the hall to find Yuan Shuchun staring straight at him.
Looking at him, Yuan Shuchun nodded her head and snapped her fingers.
*tack!*
A wave of Qi flashed through the room.
The man smiled and cupped his fists, "This array never fails to impress me, Young miss."
Yuan Shuchun nodded her head once again, "Indeed, I am quite impressed too."
Then as she put down the mission report in front of her, she asked, "What brings you here?"
The man replied, "Young Miss, Fang Chen has come out of the Sword Stele."
Yuan Shuchun frowned, "Hmm, the one-month period should be over now, right? What's there to report about him? Did something happen?"
The man nodded, "A few things, but I thought you would be interested in knowing a thing or two about him."
Yuan Shuchun scratched her chin, and an expression of intrigue appeared on her face, "Oh? Do tell."
"Young Miss," The Elder paused for a moment before continuing, "I don't think you should invest much time in Fang Chen."
Yuan Shuchun was a bit confused. In her mind, she had just praised Fang Chen's talent and luck, and now one of her subordinates was telling her otherwise.
Frowning, she asked, "Did he fail to achieve good results even after cultivation for a month in the Sword Stele?"
The elder shook his head, "No, miss, it's not that. In fact, Fang Chen achieved terrific results. It's just..."
The Elder was hesitant.
This confused Yuan Shuchun a bit more, "What is it? Tell me. I don't have a whole day for you."
The Elder coughed and said, "Young Miss, Fang Chen achieved a total of four breakthroughs in the Sword Stele and had jumped five levels of cultivation in the last one month."
Yuan Shuchun's chin slowly dropped as her mouth turned into an 'o' shape.
She was shocked and impressed at the same time.
"That's amazing!" Yuan Shuchun didn't have many words to describe the emotions she felt.
She felt not just one but multiple emotions - from feeling proud because Fang Chen was part of her Heavenly League to feeling threatened because Fang Chen's talent was way beyond her expectations.
A jump of five levels in a mere month? This was not a small feat.�
Especially not in the Lower Heavens.
In fact, she was sure that even the most talented cultivator of her generation, Crown Prince Ye Tian Yun of the Great Ye Empire, couldn't achieve such results even with all the resources he had.
But then, why was the Elder in front of her here to warn her instead of congratulating her for recruiting such a disciple?
"If he has such cultivation talent, what makes you think he's not worth investing in?" She asked.
The Elder frowned while saying, "Because he's indecisive and unconfident."
"Oh? Go on."
Elder nodded and continued to report, "Young Miss; he's not confident in his cultivation. And he's indecisive enough to let go of an opportunity served to him on a silver platter."
"What kind of opportunity?" Yuan Shuchun asked.
"An opportunity to be a part of the secret mission and improve himself."
"Oh? But why is he indecisive?"
"Young Miss, let me explain in short what happened - Fang Chen was presented with a choice to be a part of the mission by Su Ming himself. The only catch in this was that if he said yes and chose to be a part of this mission, one of the already enlisted disciples would be removed from the list."
[A/n: Su Ming = Sect Leader Su]
Yuan Shuchun pursed her lips, "And he chose not to be a part of this mission and let go of an opportunity?"
The elder nodded, "Exactly."
Yuan Shuchun shrugged, "What makes him indecisive in this? I think he's just a pure-hearted kid. Stupid, but pure-hearted."
The elder shook his head, "No, Young Miss. Listen to the second part of the story before you come to a conclusion."
Seeing Yuan Shuchun nod her head, the elder continued, "Remember the other thing I said about Fang Chen? He's unconfident."
"Even after leaping in five levels of cultivation, he's not confident in his cultivation."
"He's not confident that he can defeat other disciples and feels insecure about his battle prowess. He kept on requesting Su Ming to give him a chance to get out of the sect, and when he got it, he chose to be a good samaritan and gave up on the chance."
"This clearly highlights two qualities - zero confidence in himself and indecisiveness towards his goal."
Yuan Shuchun fell in thought as the elder finished his report.
After a moment, she shook her head.
"You don't understand anything," She said, "You think I want Fang Chen to be someone equal to me, but no, that was never the case here. I want him exactly how you have described - someone indecisive and with no confidence in himself."
"Only then would I be able to suppress him and control him easily. I can't fathom how someone like you could miss such a simple point."
The elder pursed his lips and shook his head, "Young miss, I still insist that investing in Fang Chen won't be beneficial in the long term, and it might even backfire. This is my intuition, and my intuition has saved my life more than once."
Yuan Shuchun replied with a disdainful voice, "Why are you males always going with intuition? Sometimes, you must also use that thing between your ears."
"But Miss-"
"No buts!" Yuan Shuchun waved her hand. She was never a patient girl, to begin with, and her patience was always less than what it normally was when she was around her servants.
And now, it had crossed the cap.
"Instead of spouting nonsense and gossiping, you should rather focus on getting Su Ming out of the way. Stop wasting my time and do some work, Peak Master Duan!"